As for the streets themselves, the city plan commission's transportation committee this morning endorsed a proposed revision of the city's thoroughfare plan that would allow for some notable changes.

Months, if not years, in the works, the new vision calls for redeveloping the Commerce/FWA corridor with four lanes of motor vehicle traffic, a median, street-side parallel parking, sidewalks and a two-way bicycle track separated from the roadway.

The changes would extend about 3 1/2 miles between Beckley and Westmoreland and come sometime down the road, as funding for most of the work hasn't been "identified," we're told.

But dollars from a previous bond program are available for a starter project between Sylvan and roughly Pittman -- from the Belmont Hotel east to the Chicken Scratch restaurant.

The thoroughfare plan amendment is scheduled for a Plan Commission vote Aug. 8 with a City Council decision on Sept. 11. With approval, design of the first segment would begin with estimated completion next April, we're told. As for construction? The city says details to come.

Elsewhere in the area, a redo of Sylvan Avenue between I-30 and Fort Worth Avenue should be under way by late September, says Henry Nguyen, a city engineering services program manager.

The finished product will include four lanes with a median, parallel parking on one side of the corridor and bike lanes in each direction. In time the reconstruction will extend to Singleton Boulevard.

And a rebuilding of the Commerce-Beckley intersection should begin before year's end, he said.